The Crows and the Power Fighting for Finals

With one round left in the AFL, Port Adelaide, the Crows and Hawthorn are fighting to take the Bulldogs 8th position in the finals.

With the three teams equal on 40 points it all comes down to this weekend’s games and quite possibly the percentages that follow.

As it stands, Hawthorn are leading the pack on 106.6% with the Dogs next on 105.6%.

Then come the Crows just ahead on 102.98% and finally the Power on 102.97%.

What if the points, percentage and games won/lost were all equal?!

This is what the AFL say will happen:

From Section 2.5 of the Australian Football League Regulations:

(iv) Where two or more Clubs at the completion of the Home and Away Matches have accumulated the same Premiership Points and have the same percentage, the following procedure shall apply:

(A) the position of the tied Clubs shall be adjusted by accumulating the Premiership Points awarded to the relevant Clubs as a result of the Home and Away Matches played between them and placing the Club with the highest accumulated Premiership Points, first as between them;

(B) where the Premiership Points accumulated by the relevant Clubs remain equal, the position of the tied Clubs shall be adjusted by calculating each such Club’s percentage based on the proportion of points scored for and against each such Club from the Home and Away Matches between them and placing the Club with the highest percentage, first as between them; and

(C) where two or more Clubs still remain tied, the position of the Clubs shall be adjusted by lot conducted and drawn by the General Manager - Football Operations so that any Club drawn ahead of any other Club shall be placed ahead of such other Club or Clubs.

Looking to this weekend’s games, hopefully it doesn’t happen and we can have a definitive result.

Western Bulldogs are on 44 points and take on Adelaide Crows Sunday afternoon which will be the main game to watch.

Even though the Crows haven’t had the best season, they have produced some upsets, beating the 6th place Giants and 4th place Richmond in rounds 12 and 13 respectively.

The Bulldogs have also had a rocky season, most notably losing to 14th place St Kilda in round 18 but beating 2nd place Geelong in round 16.

In any case, the game on Sunday will determine the final team to join the top 8 in the finals.

If Bulldogs come away with the win, they’re guaranteed the spot, but if the Crows can pull it together for 60 odd minutes it’ll boil down to percentage.

And with that, comes the math…

If Hawthorn beat West Coast on Saturday and the Power beat the Dockers on Sunday, all four teams will be on 44 points with their percentages hovering around each other.

Port and Hawthorn will be praying to the AFL Gods that the Crows get up but they’ll need to win themselves for it to even matter.

All eyes will be on the score and in turn the percentages come Sunday evening.